Transition from Simple Robots to Field Swarms: Ideas and Challenges in Swarm Robotics

SPEAKER: Heiko Hamann,

Professor for Cyber-physical Systems

University of Konstanz, Germany

TITLE: Transition from Simple Robots to Field Swarms: Ideas and Challenges in Swarm Robotics

ABSTRACT:  Swarm robotics studies how large groups of relatively simple robots can work together, coordinate their actions, and adapt to changing conditions through local interactions rather than central control. The field is currently developing rapidly, and swarm-based systems are increasingly moving from controlled laboratory settings toward real-world applications. It is an exciting time, full of promise and uncertainty. We have no idea what we are capable of, and therefore, we cannot know what we will become.

In this talk, I will present an accessible overview of swarm robotics through the lens of current research in my group. After introducing core ideas and design principles, I will briefly discuss teams of small autonomous sailboats as a concrete example of how swarm concepts can be implemented in physical systems operating in dynamic environments.
I will then focus on two recent research directions. The first examines how task specialization can emerge through evolutionary optimization in robot swarms, and why such specialization is not only a matter of performance but also of training effort and system size. The second takes a more theoretical perspective and addresses how robots can be allocated to tasks offline when collective performance scales nonlinearly, and in some cases even decreases, as more robots are added.

BIO: Since 2022 Heiko Hamann is professor for Cyber-physical Systems at the University of Konstanz, Germany, and member of the "Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour" in Konstanz, Germany. His main research interests are swarm robotics, bio-hybrid systems, evolutionary robotics, and modeling of complex systems. He enjoys working in multi-disciplinary teams with ethologists, plant biologists, architects, and psychologists. Heiko Hamann is author of the book "Swarm Robotics: A Formal Approach" and is editor-in-chief of the Swarm Intelligence Journal since 2023.

DATE/TIME: Thursday 5 February 2026, at 2.30pm CET.

LOCATION:  Aula Pontano - Accademia Pontaniana, Via Mezzocannone n. 8

The colloquium will be broadcast also online, on Zoom.

Meeting ID: 841 4421 2706    |    Passcode: 656302

Meeting link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84640651456?pwd=TlpSNkZKK25MVkxFdngySm1HZTh4QT09